NCAA slams TSU athletics with 5 years' probation

Coach Johnnie Cole enjoyed the conference title in 2010, now erased by NCAA sanctions.

Coach Johnnie Cole enjoyed the conference title in 2010, now erased by NCAA sanctions.

Photo: Smiley N. Pool

Photo: Smiley N. Pool

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Coach Johnnie Cole enjoyed the conference title in 2010, now erased by NCAA sanctions.

Coach Johnnie Cole enjoyed the conference title in 2010, now erased by NCAA sanctions.

Photo: Smiley N. Pool

NCAA slams TSU athletics with 5 years' probation

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Texas Southern University's athletic program was placed on five years' probation Tuesday by the NCAA, which cited a culture of TSU rule-breaking that dates back two decades but also noted the cooperation of current officials who say they have halted that long-standing trend.

Investigators said the Tigers' athletic department from 2004 through 2011 was guilty of improper recruiting tactics, academic impropriety and financial aid and eligibility violations that, based on a review of NCAA records, could be of unprecedented scope, totaling 129 student-athletes in 13 sports.

Compounding the violations, the NCAA said in its 34-page report, was lack of institutional control by some TSU officials, who told the NCAA they were eliminating violations while allowing them to continue.

Sanctions, both self-imposed by TSU and imposed by the NCAA, include postseason bans for football through 2014 and men's basketball through 2012-13, football scheduling and scholarship restrictions and an order vacating won-loss records and championships from 2006 through 2010 in all sports and through 2011 in women's soccer and football.

That penalty wipes out the Tigers' 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference football title, their first since 1968.

Also included are sanctions against former TSU football coach Johnnie Cole and former basketball coach Tony Harvey that will follow them to future jobs with NCAA institutions for the next three years.

Burden removed

While the NCAA report and investigation have been pending since October 2010, TSU athletics director Charles McClelland said the effort to turn around TSU's culture of NCAA shortcomings has been his primary focus since he was hired in May 2008.

"We know now what those sanctions are," McClelland said. "We can just concentrate on making sure we continue to improve our program, serve our sanctions and move forward.

"It (removes) a huge burden and takes my direction as an athletics director now into being what an athletics director should be, and that's building a strong, steady and competitive program instead of having to build on foundational blocks in order for us to get to have a competitive program."

Despite their scope, the allegations listed in the NCAA's 34-page report are not unprecedented for TSU.

The school is a "double repeat offender," the NCAA noted, that has been on probation or engaged in rules violations for 16 of the last 20 years.

"That is a unique circumstance during my time on the committee," said Gregory Sankey, chief operating officer of the Southeastern Conference and chairman of the infractions committee.

Avoids death penalty

Sankey said TSU avoided the so-called NCAA death penalty that could have shut down teams for up to two years after the committee evaluated efforts by John Rudley, TSU's president, and his staff to improve rules oversight and, as part of the five-year probation, imposed stringent requirements for outside reviews of the athletic department that Sankey described as a "trust but verify" approach.

"We appreciate the fact that the NCAA committee has confidence in the university's current leadership, and we are committed to make that confidence warranted," Rudley said in a TSU statement.

Cole, who coached the Tigers' football team from 2008 through 2010 and was relieved of his duties in 2011, and Harvey, who resigned in July after coaching the men's basketball team since 2008, were cited for several rules violations.

The NCAA said Cole allowed a booster from Louisiana to recruit players on his behalf from May through September 2009.

Coaches "actively encouraged" the improper contact, which included 91 phone calls to three prospects or their parents, and bought a $55 plane ticket for the girlfriend of a fourth prospect.

Also, according to information submitted by the school, the football program for three consecutive years gave initial scholarship aid to 48 (in 2008-09), 43 (in 2009-10) and 33 (2010-11) student-athletes.

The NCAA limit for Football Championship Subdivision schools is 30 per year.

Ex-coaches disagree

Both former coaches took issue with the description of their actions in the NCAA report.

"I disagree totally with the charges," Harvey said. "I did my job the right way, and I never lied about anything."

He said the NCAA pulled, in effect, a bait-and-switch tactic with him, questioning him in one matter and citing him in another, and said he hopes through the NCAA appeal process to reduce or reverse the three-year penalty.

Cole said any violations were due to misunderstandings or errors by TSU's financial aid and NCAA rules compliance officers and by the athletics director.

"I came in to turn the football program around and do it the right way, and I did that," Cole said.

"The football coach only recommends scholarships. He doesn't give them out. And I have never knowingly played a kid who was ineligible."

More Information

Penalties imposed by the NCAA against Texas Southern University's athletic department, including penalties self-imposed by TSU:

Public reprimand and censure.

TSU, which was already on NCAA probation through July 2012, faces an additional five years of probation through Oct. 8, 2017.

The school must submit to an annual review of its athletic department policies and practices, paid for by TSU, by an NCAA-approved outside entity.

No postseason games in football, including conference title games or bowl games, in 2013 and 2014. TSU earlier was banned from 2012 postseason football games because of academic shortcomings.

The men's basketball team is ineligible for the 2012-13 conference tournament and NCAA Tournament and foreign tours.

Because of scholarship restrictions, TSU football cannot schedule games with FBS schools for the next five years.

All team records for the 2006-07 through 2009-10 seasons are vacated. TSU earlier agreed to vacate all team records for the 2010-11 football and women's soccer seasons.

A limit of no more than 65 overall scholarship players in football, with 25 initial scholarships (from 30 maximum) and 60 equivalency scholarships (from 63 maximum) each year through 2016-17.

A limit of 11 men's basketball scholarships (from 13 maximum) each year through 2014-15.

Reduction in the available number of recruiting person days by 10 for men's basketball during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years (self-imposed by the university).

During the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years, the university may only use half the available evaluation days in both the spring and fall evaluation periods in football.

Football official paid visits are limited to 30 total per year for football and nine total per year for men's basketball during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years.

Former football coach Johnnie Cole and former basketball coach Tony Harvey each face a three-year show-cause order through October 2015 that restricts them from on- and off-campus recruiting and requires them to attend NCAA rules seminars and ethics training. A show-cause order requires NCAA schools to demonstrate to the infractions committee why it should not be subject to a penalty for not taking action against a staff member identified as having violated NCAA rules.

Spring 2009-Dec. 2009: An unidentified booster becomes a representative of the school's athletic interests, making more than 40 telephone contacts to two recruits and signing one prospect to a scholarship on the school's behalf. He also buys a $55 plane ticket for a prospect's girlfriend and makes 25 calls to a student-athlete encouraging him to transfer to TSU.

Fall 2009: The basketball program violates sanctions by the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance by awarding more scholarships than allowed by failing to comply with orders that it reduce practice days.